An Insight Into..:2519

UEA Ents

12/04/18

 

We take it for granted. We’ve all walked through the doors of the Nick Rayns LCR, or the Waterfront and felt the buzz of going to watch our favourite bands and artists play in our own hometown. Norwich has an incredible live music heritage and one man that we have to thank for more than a few of the most unforgettable “Good evening, Nor-wich” greetings is Paul Ingleby, Programmer at the UEA and Waterfront. We find out from the man himself how he got there, and his view from behind the stage…

 

So Paul, booking gigs for two of Norwich’s most prestigious venues would be a dream job for a lot of people. What was your journey that led to this career?

I came to Norwich to do a Masters in 1991 and I needed work to fund my studying; I tried to work in the bar, but they were all full up, and a friend of a friend said to go to the Ents department, so I thought, “that sounds good; I’ve always loved music and bands”. I knew nothing about the industry out of buying and reading about music at that time but I decided to go and work for the Ents department as crew –  pushing boxes, loading in and loading out the trucks for all of the shows…

 

So really at the bottom end…

Oh yeah. It was really interesting how it all happened; I wasn't very technically interested, I wasn’t interested in the details of the PA and light set up like some of the other people that did the crewing were. I was much more interested in how to get these bands. And so I ended up doing that, looking over shoulders, taking on how it all happened, taking in board information and learning - My contact time was limited whilst studying for my Masters, reading and research could be done at any time, so the flexibility meant I did a lot of work for the Ents department! I learnt a lot very quickly and it all went from there really. After I finished my Masters, I decided to stay in Norwich and the Students’ Union, working for Ents again the next year and also for the bars, as a full-time job between the two... 

 

So you did eventually get into the bars then?

Yeah, I did some bar work and it came to the end of that year and I was toying with, “do I leave Norwich or do I stay?” That was just when the Student Union were looking at opening the Waterfront in conjunction with the city council. So I decided to stay on the basis that there was a good chance I could get a job one way or another, as a permanent feature rather than just part-time student staff or at that time, post-student staff. That’s exactly what happened, and in November I was taken on as permanent staff as the SU took on the running of the Waterfront, a position came open as Entertainments Assistant to the long serving Manager Nick Rayns. 

 

So that was actually quite logical progression, wasn’t it? Other than the fact that your MA wasn’t involved in that field…

No, my MA was in International Relations; I think the only thing I used my experience in international relations for directly was negotiating, and learning how to negotiate through theory and in practice! However, the progression from learning the ropes as the shows happened, all about the behind the scenes both in booking and setting up for live shows gave me the grounding to progress. I took a specific interest and grew my experience in live booking from early on but I also learnt all about the department of organising the events for students and club night.

 

You’ve booked many of the biggest names in the industry, which gigs have you found most memorable and why?

The most memorable can be personal favourites and ones where the audience have been to an amazing show. So looking back, I still can’t believe we had a line-up of – let’s get this right - it was Ash on first, then Skunk Anansie and headlined by Therapy! At their peak. It was a line-up that was pretty phenomenal at the time and given all 3 bands grew further from there Along the way though, there have been lots of bands, from Radiohead appearing at the Waterfront, the favourite memory of us all with Stereophonics supporting Kinickie, upstairs at the Waterfront, big bands that have gone on to do much bigger things. We had Coldplay at the Students Union, which was pretty amazing, as part of the BBC sessions. They flew in from Madrid on a Russian plane the night before, hosted the Live Lounge during the day and played a hits set in the evening, all this whilst usually playing arenas or stadiums! That was quite an amazing experience to be involved in. There’ve been a couple of Airbourne shows recently which were great classic rock nights and not forgetting Lynyrd Synyrd about 10 years ago, at the time the highest ticket price we had ever had for a live show and thus a big financial commitment. Everyone balked at the price of ticket and fee but it sold out in days. There’ve also been a lot of little bands that came and went, who should have done better but they didn't; and other bands that went on to do big things…The Waterfront has also hosted a number of local band nights with varying success, the personal favourites were all The Rawkus Live and Meltdown Live shows, I booked them all and the first Rawkus started with a bang selling out the main room!

 

I have to ask you, in your role you must’ve seen some remarkable riders; are there any that you can recall? 

I think there's a lot of talk about riders; sometimes people try to be funny. Occasionally there are quirks, or strange bits like “can you get some local postcards or local pictures” or things like that. But yeah, all the old stories of “no red or brown M&Ms”, I don think we’ve had anything quite like that or I probably just cant remember if we did! Most bands usually just ask for as long a list of alcohol they think they can get away with – I do remember Mark E Smith having a fridge full all to himself! The one I do always remember is Rocket from the Crypt; I can’t remember the album title but it’s the one with the white cover, where the singer has a tiger on a lead in front of him. So the rider was something like ‘a few pounds of raw meat and some tepid water’, with the implication that the tiger would be in a cage towed on the back of the tour bus

 

You’ve had some internationally renowned artists pass through the city walls, what do you think the attraction is for the artists playing Norwich? 

I think Norwich is a very interesting case; I did a little bit of research a few years ago and in terms of the size of the city, it’s actually 36th in the country, so if you put it in that kind of context, we do exceptionally well for the artists we get. Interestingly Norwich live sits alongside where the shopping ranks in the country, which is actually about 9th or 10th. A lot of it is about the density of Norwich and its population; it gets thinner and thinner as you go out but for people in those regards, as we say, out in the sticks, they will travel. They’re used to travelling 40 minutes to an hour to get to where they need to go, so it’s not a problem. We’re the nearest place and we cover the whole of the east, so therefore we cover decent ground. Most importantly though we are localised in selling and promotion and the people of Norfolk like live music so we sell a decent amount of tickets in general, and if you can sell tickets, you will get shows.

 

I remember somebody saying to me that Norwich is a good place to do some of the rehearsals for some of the bigger shows that they might be doing. Do you think that’s the case or not?

It can be as I think it helps in the geography of Norwich; it’s close-ish to London but far enough away that the press probably won’t make the effort to get there and also you’re mostly far away from the main festivals. Obviously we’ve got Latitude close to us now, but prior to Latitude you had Reading and Glastonbury – festivals like that – and you were far enough away, because if you’re going to do a warm-up, you’re going to do it in a different place.

 

So you’re not stealing your existing audience…

Yes exactly. There might be exclusion zones where they can’t do any warmups before shows. We sit in a nice place that’s enough out of the way, but not too far away from places that it needs to be the next trip to.

 

 

I was gonna ask you, are there any acts you managed to book that you considered a real personal coup to get here? Of course, one of them must be Coldplay…

Well that was just amazing; it wasn’t me personally that got them here but it was amazing to host that one. I mean, our favourite storyline, and one that has been for a few years now is Ed Sheeran. He came here to do a competition, the Next Big Thing, and of course of all the acts that have been through the competition, he actually was the ‘next big thing’ and he really made it. But after that, I promoted about six shows of his over the next couple of years. That was a highlight, doing those, especially looking back on it. The best thing was him doing three nights on the trot at the Waterfront, which had never been done before. He wanted to do something that was different and all the tickets sold out straight away. It just shows how strong he was even then, and went on to do far far bigger and better things. We also did the double Skunk Anansie gig; there was a competition and someone from Norwich won it, to get the band here to do the show, and they thought it was going to be that good that they decided to do a second show that was sponsored by Kerrang! And come to think of it, the first show that I did with the Darkness, there were 237 people and that was taken on as a bit of a chance, because nobody knew what they could do, or what they were capable of, and obviously they then went on to do much bigger things, like playing arenas later on.

 

When we look at the two venues, what do you see as the real difference between the two venues?

Size, obviously, but they’ve both got really good facilities, and people like coming to them; we really try to look after the artists and tour managers when they come. We try to provide what they’ve asked for and need to make it a smooth day for them. But I think the Waterfront is a nice club-sized venue; it’s easy to get close to the stage so people like it. And with the LCR because you’ve got the sunken well with the steps, people have got a reasonably good view. It’s a big open hall with a big stage. But ultimately we look after people; we’re friendly… and there’s reasonable bar prices, so it’s the complete package! Ultimately you want people to come back - artists and customers – so you do your best you can to make that happen.

 

For artists, coming to the UEA and Waterfront can be part of their journey on the way up; what bands did you see that you predicted were something special?

I mean obviously we mentioned Ed; I thought he would do some sort of business in the music industry, but I didn’t think he’d do stadiums!. When he was in the competition though, he was head and shoulders above the rest, and better than any local artist that I’d ever seen before. So yeah, I thought he’d do something but his worldwide success was a shock.

I mentioned earlier the Stereophonics story so it was great to have them back as a warm up a couple of years ago at UEA. We hosted Royal Blood, James Bay and Rag N Bone Man in the studio all in the past few years, the level they have now achieved makes that exciting, all of them were on the edge of bigger things even at that point, you could tell they had something special. I loved the idea of Seasick Steve, his story and his style, I thought it could do well but unfortunately it took years to finally land him in Norwich!

 

You’ve got a number of gigs coming up over the next nine months, so what do you see as the not-to-be-missed gigs of this year?

We’ve got Of Mice and Men coming up in April; they’re an alternative American rock band who are doing well in the alt scene and on the up. We have a great show with Mexrrissey – yes a Mexican Morrissey show that’s getting fantastic reviews. We are very pleased to be hosting a show with Wilko Johnson who recently survived life threatening cancer. There is return for Frank Turner and PIL too and a very exciting show with Kiefer Sutherland in June, yes that’s right the movie star Kiefer ‘Lost Boys’ ‘24’ Sutherland! I think one of the highlights of the Autumn is Jorja Smith, who’s making big waves and recently won the Critics choice award at the Brits, she’s a fantastic singer. Before then we have Twin Atlantic, The Prince Experience, Akala and much more. Also look out for a couple of special shows with local 80s favourites pout at The Devil!

As ever there is lots more in the pipeline and shows are starting to get confirmed for the Autumn, its going to be busy! In 2019 we already have The Skids and Royal Republic booked in and are looking forward to a busy 12 months at both venues

 

As we look forward, say, to the next five years, what do you see as the challenges for venues?

Well, I think they’re the same challenges as the last few years; I’ve seen a number of venues around the country closing and the dangers of noise problems is one – just the licensing around venues as a whole. Houses are being built around where venues already exist and the Waterfront has suffered with that, but it’s still going strong and we’ve got some good gigs coming up, so hopefully that won’t be a problem. On the whole though it’s the same as it has been forever, in a way; as a business you’ve got to make sure you get enough people through the door to make the nights cost effective, but I think the live music industry at the moment is really strong. There’s a decent amount of artists out there touring and people want to see bands and go out. In society there is a feel of having an experience with music over maybe owning it, access via streaming has grown hugely as owning CDs has fallen away. However there’s always the competition with the many things society offers, so making sure you have enough people through the door throughout the year to keep you going is really important. Live music is in demand, so if you get the right acts at the right price then you can overcome the challenges faced. Ultimately it’s about providing the product that people want, its tough to get right but with skill and experience, being profitable more often than not it is possible for venues like UEA and The Waterfront to be successful .

 

Finally, this April will mark five years since the sad passing of Nick Rayns, after who the LCR was renamed. Can you give people an idea of what role Nick played for the music scene at the UEA, and even Norwich as a whole?

Well I’m really pleased you ask that question because Nick was so important to Norwich’s live music, and I can’t believe it’s already been five years since his sad passing. Nick came to Norwich and did a course at UEA and started promoting shows in the city, then he became Social Secretary for the students Union and started promoting shows at the venues UEA had on offer – on campus and at the residences off campus. He had a natural gut instinct about what bands would do well. He had a fantastic persona for dealing with people too; agents and promoters liked him and appreciated what he did to make the shows comfortable for the tour. He was always a man who worked on the premise that you don’t say no. Not in the sense of bookings bands, but if people needed something or wanted something, you would do your utmost to make sure they got what they wanted and went away happy. Myself and the team here continued that, and that’s what bands want from venues. Nick was the catalyst of it all happening in Norwich, and he put his money where his mouth was; he made some big offers that could have been perceived as a huge risk at the time but his gut instinct was so good that he didn’t often lose money and he pulled in some fantastic acts over the years and built up the reputation of UEA as a touring venue. I took what I had learned in the early years, first booking the Waterfront then quickly taking on UEA booking and overseeing the diaries completely as Nicks role grew and became Bars Entertainments Manager.

Whilst I have overseen the live booking and organisation completely for over 15 years now, it can’t be underestimated, or understated, the work Nick did to put Norwich on the musical map. He taught us all - and there are still a number of long term employees currently at the SU in our wider venues team There’s a lot of him in us, and a lot of us in the venue. He’s still here; he’s still around in our hearts and we hope to continue his legacy for years to come.